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In the space of one 36-minute speech John McCain proved his Sarah Palin choice was not a lapse into insanity.
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ST. PAUL, Minn. — Until Wednesday night, many political professionals were whispering that there was a good chance that in picking Sarah Palin as his running mate John McCain had lost the election.

And some of them thought that with his last-minute, seemingly impulsive selection of a little-known and little-experienced governor he had lost his mind.

It’s as true on Thursday afternoon as it was on Wednesday that Palin is a risky pick. The public — and no doubt the McCain campaign as well — still doesn’t know what it doesn’t know about Palin, whose personal and public record in Alaska is still being raked by reporters and opposition researchers.

But in the space of one 36-minute speech by Palin, McCain proved that his choice was not a lapse into temporary (or even permanent) insanity. The speech’s political significance goes far beyond the fact that Palin showed herself capable of delivering a spirited reading of words that other people wrote.

Just as Barack Obama’s 2004 convention speech transformed his career, Palin’s speech has the potential to transform the dynamic of this race — in some ways that are obvious and some not:

• McCain is liberated

It is hard to overstate how underwhelmed most Republicans are by McCain and the current cast of GOP leaders. This was especially true of social conservatives, many of them religious evangelicals, who are most thrilled by Palin.

Now that Palin has cleared the bar — truth be told, a fairly modest one — of delivering an effective speech, McCain has much more flexibility to follow his own instincts.

He can play up reformist rhetoric and play down socially conservative ideology — the exact combination that in 2004 had some liberal commentators hoping McCain would abandon the GOP and go on the Democratic ticket.

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Before Wednesday night, McCain was in big trouble when it comes to mobilizing conservative faithful. Now, Palin can help the party organize and turn out the same base of Christian evangelicals, Second Amendment supporters and abortion-rights opponents that proved instrumental to the back-to-back George W. Bush victories.

Before Wednesday night, McCain had little room for error with the right. They measured every word and made him pay for straying too far on the issues they care most about. Now, McCain can stretch and twist like a yoga instructor.

The key to watch in Thursday night’s acceptance speech is how McCain uses this new freedom —particularly his newfound ability to put even more distance between himself and a deeply unpopular president. It was no accident that the immediate response to Palin’s speech from the Obama campaign was to try to link her and McCain back to Bush.

• A competing storyline

Palin hasn’t seen the last of stories looking for contradictions or flaws in her record, or suggesting that her accomplishments or intellect are as substantial as a souffle.

But by presenting an engaging side of herself and her family, she ensured that those stories, written mainly by political and investigative reporters, will be countered by other stories written mainly by lifestyle reporters.

People magazine reporters and bookers for "The View" and "Oprah" will be watching Palin with a lot more interest than they will be watching Joe Biden. In Palin's own way, her story and rapid rise are as arresting to the mass audience as Obama’s.

Are you kidding me?! This nobody, with a big, nasty, lying mouth and zero experience in foreign policy, who could easily be running this country because mcsame is soooooooooo old, and this changed the world?! Yes, it proved that mcsame and his cohorts do NOT care about this country, they only care about getting elected, at the expense of this country. The right wing loves her because she is just as hypocritical and stupid as their "bush" is. They care only about their agenda and not the U.S. It is they who are UNpatriotic! Shame on those of you who would actually vote for this nasty team and further put this country in jeopardy.

For those of you who seem so enamored with Gov. Sarah Palin, it might be worth noting that she oversees the budget for the Department of Education and Early Development Special Schools in Alaska. These funds provide supplementary educational services to students with severe disabling conditions and the Alaska Challenge Youth Academy. The resident school where the child would normally be placed does not have the resources to provide an adequate educational program. Without the supplementary services the child?s needs would not be met by the local school district in most cases. The following programs are included within this component: Special Education Service Agency (SESA) The Annual budget for 2007, which preceded Gov. Palin was $8,265,300. http://www.gov.state.ak.us/omb... The Annual budget for 2008, enacted by Gov. Palin is $3,156,000. http://www.gov.state.ak.us/omb... The Annual budget for 2009, enacted by Gov. Palin is $3,156,000. http://www.gov.state.ak.us/omb... This is a cut in special needs services to children in Alaska of 5,109,300 , or 62%. Seems to me she's done a wonderful job hahahah

Are you kidding me?! This nobody, with a big, nasty, lying mouth and zero experience in foreign policy, who could easily be running this country because mcsame is soooooooooo old, and this changed the world?! Yes, it proved that mcsame and his cohorts do NOT care about this country, they only care about getting elected, at the expense of this country. The right wing loves her because she is just as hypocritical and stupid as their "bush" is. They care only about their agenda and not the U.S. It is they who are UNpatriotic! Shame on those of you who would actually vote for this nasty team and further put this country in jeopardy.

For those of you who seem so enamored with Gov. Sarah Palin, it might be worth noting that she oversees the budget for the Department of Education and Early Development Special Schools in Alaska. These funds provide supplementary educational services to students with severe disabling conditions and the Alaska Challenge Youth Academy. The resident school where the child would normally be placed does not have the resources to provide an adequate educational program. Without the supplementary services the child?s needs would not be met by the local school district in most cases. The following programs are included within this component: Special Education Service Agency (SESA) The Annual budget for 2007, which preceded Gov. Palin was $8,265,300. http://www.gov.state.ak.us/omb... The Annual budget for 2008, enacted by Gov. Palin is $3,156,000. http://www.gov.state.ak.us/omb... The Annual budget for 2009, enacted by Gov. Palin is $3,156,000. http://www.gov.state.ak.us/omb... This is a cut in special needs services to children in Alaska of 5,109,300 , or 62%. Seems to me she's done a wonderful job hahahah

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I oversee a budget of over $4million for the non-profit I work for....I GUESS I'M QUALIFIED TO BE PRESIDENT TOO!!!!

Sarah Palin truly transformed the race last night. What is fascinating is watching the Democrats and their liberal MSM allies completely change their tune overnight, from condescending to boiling angry. They hate the idea that this woman from nowhere could deliver a barn burner of a speech, come out poised and personable to openly mock their Saint Barack for the empty suit that he is. They hate the audacity of this "nobody" making fools of them. Middle America spoke last night, and the liberal establishment hates her for it. Go Sarah!

This woman has no idea what's coming at her! Sarah Palin has been locked in her hotel room for 2 days, she gave a speech last night that she didn't write and had to be trained to prepare for, why the news media define her. She has not giving a news confrerence in front of reporters for 6 days now. The news media will be like a bomb ready to explode on her when she starts to receive questions on the allegations surroundinmg her, economy, healthcare, job losses, gasoline prices, Iraq war, Russia and many, many more questions. She want be reading from a prepared speech when the news media starts asking questions. The first major gaffe from her will be explosive! Its Over For The McCain Campaign!

"The speech’s political significance goes far beyond the fact that Palin showed herself capable of delivering a spirited reading of words that other people wrote" Funny that Sarah Palin is just another mindless gop automaton that mindlessly spews the same old party tripe......just as she is told!

sarah palin is sooo tired .... and she looks like ms norberry from mean girls lol ..... she's pathetic ...and her speech was hydia !!!!! I DONT LIKE HER OR HER FAMILY !!!!!! except the little girl she was cute ... i wonder how inadequate her husband must feel ?

The only reason Americans do not think McCain was crazy for picking her, is because the GOP kept her creationist, anti-abortion under any circumstances, anti-gay, her belief that God wanted us to attack Iraq and other fanatical religious beliefs out of her speech. When Americans learn how un-mainstream she truly is the story will change. We did not hear about universal health care, child care, medicare, or elder care in her speech. We did not hear about how should would stimulate the economy and must assume her idea of stimulation is to cut taxes on the richest of us and pay for it by upping taxes and tariffs on the poorest of us. The question is how long will it take before the masses find out about what Sarah Palin really believes so that they can make up their minds about whether they want fundamentalist born again Christian a heart beat away from the presidency.

Sarah Palin is a force to be reckoned with. She delivered a knockout blow last night and the liberals are trying to pooh-pooh her. But guess what Libs....we know better. Sarah is just what we need and we won't be silenced!!!

"There's only one man in this race who has actually defended this country." S.Palin

I needn't have to say who this man is.

Joe Biden took five draft deferments and wrangled a medical disqualification for asthma. Asthma? Ha! He brags about his football exploits, but no mention of asthma. At least Cheney did his deferments legitimately and didn't have to lie about his reasons. Howard Dean is another lying draft cheat. The story of our only draft-dodging president is too well known. "... but I didn't inhale." Indeed!